Laurence Thiriat

For more than a decade, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler's right-hand man during the infamous Third Reich, assembled a collection of thousands of works of art that were meticulously catalogued.

No city in the world has sparked as many desires and fantasies as Venice. In the 18th century, its heady atmosphere of freedom produced an extraordinary cultural flowering. Famous artists like Vivaldi, Tiepolo father and son, Canaletto, Longhi, Guardi, Goldoni and Casanova hurled themselves into a giddy whirl of libertinage while leaving their stamp on the unique city. Then, in 1797, Venice surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte. Carnival was over, and the masks came off. Venice: Flamboyant to the End transports us from canal to canal, palazzo to palazzo, bathing us in the magical atmosphere of this maze of a city and conjuring up the uniquely flamboyant Venice of the 18th century.

Marie-Anne Dieu-le-veut, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, Louise Antonini: four remarkable pirate women defied patriarchal and colonial Western powers to lead adventurous lives across Caribbean history, revealing their forgotten stories overshadowed by famous pirates.

How China's magical Zhangjiajie National Park attracted director James Cameron, who came seeking inspiration for a mysterious fictional planet.